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The onset of a new year is the perfect time to review your SAP SuccessFactors Performance Management system and plan improvements for the year ahead. Approach the process as you would any new year’s resolution; take a good look at your current system to identify opportunities for improvement, research possible solutions and then set short-term, realistic goals to implement changes over the coming year.  

Step 1: Review Current System
Review your current system and related processes to see if you can identify opportunities for improvement. It may be helpful to enlist the help of newer team members to ensure you are looking with unbiased, ‘fresh eyes.’ Then gather feedback from key stakeholders, process owners and system administrators to compile a list of pain points.

Questions to consider in this step include: does this system effectively support my organization’s current business processes? Is my goal setting process and/or performance form route map unnecessarily cumbersome? Does this tool support the evolving culture of my organization? For example: the current workforce is mobile – have you implemented the available mobile applications SuccessFactors has rolled out to support your users?

Step 2: Research Potential Solutions
A great place to start researching potential solutions is right in Admin Center. Navigate to the Release Center to check out a list of features relevant to your specific SAP SuccessFactors instance planned for upcoming releases. Then click on the Upgrade Center to review any available upgrades to determine if performing a quick upgrade will address any of the pain points identified in step 1.

 SAP SuccessFactors Release Center  SAP SuccessFactors Upgrade Center


Your next stop should be the SAP SuccessFactors Community, your go-to source for all things SuccessFactors. On the Performance and Goals community page you can access current product documentation, resources and blogs. Join a collaborative discussion with other PMGM clients and check out their success stories to see if what is working in another organization might work for you as well.

If you know your system needs improvement but you aren’t able to pinpoint what those might be, check out the SAP SuccessFactors Community > Performance and Goals Product Resources > Leading Practices and Process Models for Performance and Goals for ideas. Or consider engaging an SAP SuccessFactors partner to review your current system configuration and provide recommendations.

Step 3: Set Realistic Goals
Set realistic goals to implement these changes. Timing is critical – do not re-vamp your PM form template one week before you plan to launch review forms. Some minor upgrades require little time and/or effort on your part but can greatly enhance user experience and drive user adoption. One example in particular is updating to the new Homepage and/or switching on Fiori styling. If enhancements you would like to implement are scheduled for a future release, do not plan to rollout the upgrade the day it is available in production. Give yourself plenty of time to thoroughly test the upgrades before you enable them in production. SAP SuccessFactors now allows clients to ‘test drive’ upcoming release features. For additional information about this new offering, check out this blog article.

Step 4: Communicate & Implement Change
You know what to fix, how to fix and when you want to fix it. All you need to do now is communicate the planned changes to your users and stick to your plan. Remember to update any training materials as needed and make every effort to meet your goals.

Follow these steps throughout the year and your small changes can add up to big improvements to your SAP SuccessFactors Performance Management system. 

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